Chairman Mao Meets Revolutionary Masses in Peking

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Chairman Mao says to the crowds: "You should pay attention to state affairs and carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end!"

AT 7:15 p.m. on August 10, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, the great leader of the Chinese people, came to the reception centre near the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and met Peking's revolutionary masses who were there to celebrate the Central Committee's decision concerning the great proletarian cultural revolution adopted on August 8. Speaking to the crowds, Chairman Mao said: "You should pay attention to state affairs and carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end!" This is a great call which Chairman Mao has issued to the people of the whole country. When our respected and beloved leader arrived, the crowds burst out into a storm of applause, shouting:"Chairman Mao is here! Chairman Mao is here!" Tens of thousands of workers, peasants, students, revolutionary cadres and other people in the capital jumped in their joy and went surging towards Chairman Mao. The sounds of "Long live Chairman Mao!" and "Long, long life to Chairman Mao” rolled out thunderously. Amidst cheers and ovations, Chairman Mao mounted the rostrum in the reception centre. His face beaming with smiles, our great leader looked at the messages of greetings, and written pledges on display and cordially waved to the crowds gathered in and around the centre. At that moment there was no telling how many hearts throbbed with excitement, how many eyes shone with tears of joy and how many hands reached out towards him. Chairman Mao walked from one end of the rostrum to the other. He stretched out both arms and shook hands warmly with those gathered immediately around the rostrum. Chairman Mao talked to a number of comrades, and greeted the cheering crowds around: "How are you, comrades? How are you, comrades?" When leaving the reception centre, Chairman Mao waved time and again to the elated crowds. Long after he left, crowds of people who had come to deliver messages of greetings and written pledges remained there, excited and reluctant to leave. Many standing at the back pressed forward to shake hands with those who had shaken hands with Chairman Mao. These latter said that they had thought on the great occasion: "Oh! Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao! It is with these great hands of yours that you have written so many revolutionary articles and pointed out to the Chinese people the road of advance. It is you who have led us in toppling the three big mountains of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism and are leading us in carrying out socialist revolution and socialist construction. Today with these hands of yours you have pointed out to us the direction of the great proletarian cultural revolution." Many who had shaken hands with Chairman Mao told everyone they met: "Come and shake hands with me! My hands have just touched those of Chairman Mao!" Many who came too late to see Chairman Mao said that it was also the greatest happiness to be able to walk where Chairman Mao had just met the revolutionary masses. They sang over and over again The East Is Red, A Ship Cannot Sail Without a Helmsman, and Love Chairman Mao's Works Best. On learning the happy news that Chairman Mao had met revolutionary masses in the capital, many people that very night wrote messages of greetings and pledges on big sheets of red paper and sent them to the reception centre. In the messages of greetings they said: "Long live Chairman Mao! Long, long life to Chairman Mao!" They pledged to Chairman Mao their determination to hold still higher the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought and always to follow Chairman Mao, marching forward in the teeth of storms. Many workers, members of the people's communes on the outskirts of the city, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary cadres said with deep feeling: Our great leader Chairman Mao's meeting with the masses at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in the upsurge of the current great proletarian cultural revolution is an event of great historic significance. Our great leader has the greatest trust in the masses, shows the greatest care for them and gives the greatest support to their revolutionary action. Chairman Mao is linked heart to heart with the masses. They said: Chairman Mao's meeting with the masses is a great encouragement for the proletarian revolutionaries, tremendously heightening their will and giving them inexhaustible strength. Under the brilliant leadership of our great leader Chairman Mao, the great proletarian cultural revolution we are carrying out now will surely win complete and thorough victory! For several days after the publication of the decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party concerning the great proletarian cultural revolution on the night of August 8, revolutionary masses in the capital were overwhelmed with joy and elation. Contingents went in unending streams to the reception centre of the Party's Central Committee to deliver their messages of greetings and written pledges. Holding high red flags and carrying large portraits of the great leader Chairman Mao, they beat drums and gongs, shouted slogans and sang revolutionary songs. Carrying bouquets and wearing garlands, crowds of young people sang and danced — a manifestation of their warmest love for Chairman Mao and the Party's Central Committee and of their determination to carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end. The historic news that our great leader Chairman Mao had met revolutionary masses in Peking was a tremendous inspiration to all revolutionary people in the capital, bringing to a new high their revolutionary enthusiasm in hailing the decision of the Party's Central Committee concerning the great proletarian cultural revolution. On August 11 endless contingents of paraders came to the reception centre from all directions. The messages of greetings and written pledges delivered to the centre were too numerous to count. One representative of the revolutionary masses after another made warm speeches before the loudspeaker. Tens of thousands of hearts beat as one. A multitude of words rang out with the same meaning: Our respected and beloved leader Chairman Mao, it was under your leadership that the great programme for the great proletarian cultural revolution was worked out; your meeting with revolutionary masses has added immeasurably to their strength. Like the sun you have illuminated the path for the cultural revolution. In accordance with your instruction we will resolutely carry the revolution through to the end. Outstanding representatives of the members of the rural people's communes and production brigades on the outskirts of the city came all the way to the centre to declare their aspirations to the Party's Central Committee and Chairman Mao. A representative of the poor and lower-middle peasants in the Golden Star Production Brigade gave the pledge that with a hoe in one hand and a pen in the other they would deal a severe head-on blow to the ghosts and monsters who took the capitalist road and opposed the Party, socialism and Mao Tse-tung's thought. Like a spring wind, the happy news that the most respected and beloved great leader of the people of all nationalities in China, Chairman Mao, had met the revolutionary masses in the capital swept through the rest of the country. From border towns in China's north to Hainan Island off the southern coast and from the outposts on the eastern coast to the frontier on the Pamir highland, people of all nationalities — workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary cadres — shouted in high spirits: "Long live Chairman Mao!" and "Long, long life to Chairman Mao!" The sounds of the revolutionary songs The East Is Red and A Ship Cannot Sail Without a Helmsman, drums and gongs and firecrackers thundered. Carrying big portraits of Chairman Mao and holding bouquets and banners on high, unending columns of paraders streamed from morning till night to the headquarters of local Party committees to express their joy. At this moment of the greatest happiness, countless eyes filled with warm tears and the thoughts of many flew to the capital. The revolutionary masses passed around the happy news to encourage one another. They said: Chairman Mao is linked heart to heart with the revolutionary masses. Even though we shouted "Long live Chairman Mao!" 10 million or 100 million times, we cannot give full expression to our warm love for him and our gratitude to him. The multitude of words spoken by the revolutionary masses voiced the same feeling: When Chairman Mao shook the hands of the revolutionary masses in the capital, it stirred the hearts of the hundreds of millions of people throughout the country. Though not living in the capital, we are fighting shoulder to shoulder with its revolutionary masses in the great cultural revolutionary movement. In meeting the revolutionary masses of the capital, Chairman Mao has in effect met us. We are determined to follow Chairman Mao's teachings about paying attention to state affairs and carrying the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end. The city of Shanghai was bubbling with joy on August 12. Contingent after contingent of paraders converged on the office of the Party's Shanghai Municipal Committee to deliver their messages of greetings and written pledges. Revolutionary students of the various nationalities in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music held high red flags, played revolutionary music and performed the yangko dance as they paraded through the streets. In Canton, the front of the building of the Party's municipal committee was covered with written pledges and messages of greetings from the broad revolutionary masses. On the day when workers of the Kwang-tung Hsinhua Printing House started printing Selected

Works of Mao Tse-tung, a task assigned to them for the first time, they learnt the news of Chairman Mao's meeting with the capital's revolutionary masses. This was indeed a happy coincidence: two splendid events in a single day, the workers said joyously. They expressed their determination to complete their printing task quickly and successfully. In Wuhan, radios and loudspeakers in the factories, barracks and schools and on the farms were all surrounded with the revolutionary masses listening to the great news. Their joyous thoughts flew to the capital, to Chairman Mao. In Shaoshan, Siangtan County, the birthplace of Chairman Mao, all the commune members and revolutionary cadres were jubilant. They said that the moment they heard the happy news, they were reminded, as if they were meeting him once more, of Chairman Mao's return to Shaoshan in 1959. They declared that they would take firm hold of the revolution and increase production, so that when Chairman Mao came again, they could tell him about all the successes they had achieved. In Urumchi, capital of the Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the revolutionary masses of the various nationalities acclaimed the news in their own tongues. They said: "We will always follow Chairman Mao's teachings about paying attention to state affairs and carrying the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end." The revolutionary teachers, students, faculty members and workers of the Sinkiang Medical College made a huge placard on which they wrote in big gold and red characters the great call Chairman Mao made when he met the revolutionary masses in Peking. Carrying numerous portraits of Chairman Mao, decorated with swathes of coloured silk, the students danced national dances and cheered around the placard to the music of national instruments. In Lhasa, happiness reigned supreme on August 12. The broad masses of the revolutionary people shouted in unison in the Tibetan and Han languages: "Long live Chairman Mao! Long, long life to Chairman Mao!" With the greatest joy, the Tibetan people sang: 'Oh, majestic Himalayas! How can you compare with the lofty spirit of Chairman Mao! Oh, Tsangpo River! My love for Chairman Mao will last as long as your mighty and roaring waters!" Throughout the country, labour heroes and outstanding figures in all fields of work rejoiced to hear the happy news that Chairman Mao had met the revolutionary masses in Peking. They made statements, or sent letters or written pledges to the Party's Central Committee and Chairman Mao. They unanimously held that the news showed Chairman Mao's very great trust in the revolutionary masses and his very great concern, support and encouragement for them. They expressed their determination to hold high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought and, closely following the Party's Central Committee and Chairman Mao, to surmount every difficulty and advance courageously in the teeth of storms. The news that Chairman Mao had met the revolutionary masses in Peking was greeted with roaring cheers among all commanders and fighters of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. They said: "When Chairman Mao said to the revolutionary masses in Peking: 'You should pay attention to state affairs and carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end,' he was making a great call to the people of the whole country. It is also a great call to all the commanders and fighters of our army. In accordance with Chairman Mao's instruction, we will certainly brave the storms of class struggle and march forward." On hearing the news, the noted combat hero Mai Hsien-teh declared with great elation: "We will always study Chairman Mao's works, follow his teachings and be his good soldiers. We will always follow Chairman Mao in making revolution, resolutely carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end, crush the sinister gangs, sweep away all ghosts and monsters and defend the Party's Central Committee and Chairman Mao!"